Algemeen: RFA - Radio Frequency Ablation - wordt ten opzichte van operatie bij levertumoren en bij long- en borsttumoren binnen enkele jaren eerstelijns behandeling voorspelt Dr. DeVivo op groot internationaal radiologen congres.

5 augustus 2011: 8 jaar geleden werd al gezegd dat RFA - Radio Frequency Ablation een standaard behandeling zou worden voor met name levertumoren vanuit verschillende vormen van kanker met solide tumroen, waronder darmkanekr, borstkanker, en longkanker. Het is toch wel schrijnend dat anno 2011 nog zoveel kankerpatienten uit moeten wijken naar het buitenland voor een RFA - behandeling en dit bjna altijd allemaal zelf moeten betalen.

d.d. 3 december 2003: Bron DOW

RFA - Radio Frequency Ablation - zorgt bij levertumoren voor 10% meer vijfjaars overleving ten opzichte van operatie en voor ca. 50% meer vijfjaars overleving tegenover chemo en andere medicijnen aanpak bij levertumoren, aldus een presentatie van verschillende studieresultaten geleverd door RITA-systems op een groot jaarlijks internationaal radiologen congres in Noord-Amerika. Ter illustratie patiënten met levertumoren leven gemiddeld 14 maanden na aanpak met medicijnen en slechts 10% haalt de vijf jaar. Opvallend ook in dit bericht dat ook RFA bij longtumoren en borsttumoren volgens RITA-systems binnen enkele jaren eerste lijnbehandeling zal worden. Lees ook bericht over bevriezing - cryosurgery - van longtumoren bij kankersoorten-longkanker via zelfde techniek van CT-geleide naalden door de huid heen, maar van ander bedrijf.

-- =DJ Rita Medical Up-3:Studying Device For Lung, Breast Cancer --

Radiofrequency ablation, or RFA, is a method in which a doctor, guided by
ultrasound, inserts a long needle through a cancer patient's skin and places it
near a tumor. Radio waves pass from a generator into electrodes attached to the
needle, heating the tumor to between 50 and 100 degrees centigrade and
destroying it in minutes. The patient can go home the same day.
Dr. Lencioni's study involved both Class A and Class B liver cancer patients.
Class B patients are slightly sicker than Class A patients.
Another study, focused solely on Class A patients eligible for surgery, found
that one-year survival rates are somewhat better for patients treated with RFA
than for those treated with surgery. Survival after one year with surgery was
85% compared with 100% for those treated with RFA. After five years, patients
had a 61% survival rate with RFA and a 51% survival rate with surgery. Most of
the difference was due to the lower rate of complications associated with RFA.
In contrast, the five-year survival rate for patients treated solely with
drugs is less than 10%, with the average survival at 14 months.

"The data is significant, because it shows after five years the survival rate
rivals the best surgical study," said Joseph DeVivo, president and chef
executive of Rita, in an interview. "This data suggests we have equivalent
survival." One day, he said, RFA may become the standard of care for treatment
of this type of cancer. About 60,000 patients have been treated with Rita's
device.
Primary liver cancer - the type in this study - is cancer that originates
within the liver, not cancer that spreads to the liver from other organs. There
are about 20,000 new primary liver cancer cases diagnosed each year in the U.S.
DeVivo said Rita is also studying RFA for lung and breast cancers, and that
lung cancer could eventually be the biggest market for its device. Competitors
in RFA include RadioTherapeutics, a division of Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX)
and Radionics, a unit of Tyco International Ltd. (TYC). But Rita has about a 70%
share of the U.S. market for RFA in liver cancer patients.
The most effective treatment for liver cancer is a replacement liver, with 75%
five-year survival, DeVivo said. There's a huge waiting list for livers, and
many patients deteriorate while they wait to a point where they become
ineligible for a replacement organ. New data suggest that RFA may become an
option for patients on these waiting lists to keep them healthy long enough to
stay eligible for a transplant, DeVivo said.
Tuesday's data were presented at the Radiology Society of North America
scientific assembly and annual meeting taking place here this week.